I think I have subconsciously been putting off the task of writing down my thoughts and feelings about counseling during quarantine and Covid for many months. My feelings have become such an ebb and flow that I don’t always know from day to day how I will feel. I read the other day that this is a time like no other for counselors and clients; never in my experience as a therapist am I also dealing with the same concerns and worries as my clients.

One thing that comes up frequently during sessions with clients and with myself is grief over the things that have had to be cancelled, grief over the loss of normalcy, grief over what could have been. I have had friends cancel weddings, my 7 year old son asking me why he must wear a mask or can’t do his favorite activity. I am grieving the loss of not being able to see my parents as much as I want and having to cancel a trip to a country I have never been. While those are certainly in a sense frivolous and unimportant compared to the loss of life, it is still okay to grieve the lost experiences we were expecting to have this year.

Another big shift has been to seeing clients only through video or via phone. I thrive being in the same room as my clients so that I can sense their energy and feel like I have a better understanding of the experience and feelings they are describing.

This year, more than ever before, I have cried with my clients because I understand the struggles they are experiencing to understand this virus and how it has impacted us so deeply. Most of all, what I have learned from this experience is that we are in this together. We can be angry together, anxious about what is to come, and hopeful that things can feel okay again. The brave faces that my clients have put on to forge through this is admirable and inspiring. I hope that I can only be half as strong as them as we face this struggle together.

I love this picture below. Blue skies and calm water. A reminder that we can always come back to Nature to find resolve and peace.